1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to skiing and snowboarding apparatus, and more particularly, it relates to skiing and snowboarding apparatus which is quickly attachable to and detachable from a snowshoe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Today, more than ever, people are concerned with their health and overall wellbeing. Many people have chosen to achieve good health by exercising in outdoor environments. Every year participation in outdoor activities continues to increase, with people seeking new ways to exercise outdoors. In other instances, people find it necessary to travel off of the beaten path in snowy environments, and must usually chose a single means of conveyance, i.e. short snowshoes or long cross country skis.
Snowshoeing activities have traditionally been a proven healthful activity which provides hours of enjoyment and exercise when traversing through snowy environments. Unfortunately, while offering tremendous practical travel or exercise opportunities when traveling in a generally level or uphill direction, snowshoeing, as compared to skiing, can be slow and inefficient when traveling down hill. Moreover, snowshoeing can be extremely difficult when traveling down steep hills. During snowshoeing activities, oftentimes it becomes desirable to have a better and faster method of traveling downhill.
While a variety of "short" skis have been developed for clamping onto boots and for providing a sliding surface much shorter than standard length skis, prior to the present invention none of the known skis provide a snowshoe user with a simple and effective way of traveling downhill. For example, Arsenault, U.S. Pat. No. 2,410,702 describes a combination that can be quickly transformed from a ski into a snowshoe and then back to a ski. In the Arsenault patent, the ski has permanently hinged side wings which may be lowered to convert the ski into a snowshoe, and which can be raised to resume the ski function. Unfortunately, the ski/snowshoe combination of the Arsenault patent does not allow the user to remove the ski during snowshoeing activities, thereby potentially causing dangerous and uncomfortable interference with the normal use of the snowshoe.
In other known prior art, Swiss Patent 37,183 teaches a short ski with a snowshoe mounted upon it. U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 205,186; 3,600,829 and 3,861,698 teach devices which combine the function of a snowshoe and ski. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,004,355; 4,334,369 and 5,398,957 teach strap-on skis for regular shoes. A separate ski which is attachable to and detachable from a snowshoe is not known to exist in the prior art.
With the needs defined above, and in view of the limitations of the prior art in mind, the objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, showing the contemplated novel construction, combination, and elements as herein described, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiments and equivalents to the herein disclosed invention are meant to be included as coming within the scope of the claims, except insofar as they may be precluded by the prior art.